About 9 million people in the United States are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, including low-income seniors and younger people with disabilities. These dual eligible beneficiaries have complex and often costly health care needs, and have been the focus of many recent initiatives and proposals to improve the coordination of their care aimed at both raising the quality of their care while reducing its costs. This page highlights some key resources examining the dual eligible population and provides you with the standard search result page for a site-wide search on the dual eligible tag.

This chart and a related fact sheet show enrollment in the capitated financial alignment demonstrations for beneficiaries who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Nearly 355,000 seniors and non-elderly adults with disabilities are enrolled in these demonstrations in 9 states as of June 2015.

This issue brief provides insights about initial implementation of the financial alignment demonstrations from the perspective of dual eligible beneficiaries in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Virginia, based on 12 individual interviews conducted in early 2015. Profiles of six beneficiaries are presented to illustrate representative program experiences, along with key findings from across all of the interviews.

This report examines the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) financial alignment demonstration for beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, with a focus on the extent to which participating states and health plans have prior experience with capitated managed care arrangements under Medicare or Medicaid, and specifically for this population. Under these capitated financial alignment demonstrations, health plans contract with the state and CMS (a three-way contract) to provide both Medicare and Medicaid benefits to dually eligible beneficiaries. These demonstrations aim to improve the quality of care and the coordination of benefits for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The report finds considerable variation in the experience of states and health plans participating in these demonstrations, and discusses the potential implications for beneficiaries and plan oversight.

Published in a special Summer 2015 edition of the journal Generations on Medicare’s 50th anniversary, these six articles by Kaiser Family Foundation staff reflect on Medicare’s history, evolution and future, including a look at lessons and challenges, the Medicare and Medicaid partnership, coverage, the role of private plans, Medicare’s role for women, and the public opinion about the program. Foundation Senior Vice President Tricia Neuman served as co-editor, along with National Coalition on Health Care President and CEO John Rother. The articles are available courtesy of the American Society on Aging, which publishes Generations.

This issue brief describes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ plan to evaluate the financial alignment demonstrations, for beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid via its contract with RTI International.

One year into initial enrollment in the Medicare-Medicaid financial alignment demonstrations for dual eligible beneficiaries, some initial insights are beginning to emerge. This policy insight highlights key challenges and trends emerging in states’ demonstrations.

Ohio is among the early states to launch a 3-year capitated financial alignment demonstration to integrate payments and care for beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. This case study describes the early implementation of the demonstration based on a diverse group of stakeholder interviews.

Massachusetts is among the early states to launch a 3-year capitated financial alignment demonstration to integrate payments and care for beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. This case study describes the early implementation of the demonstration based on a diverse group of stakeholder interviews.